Brassey's Modern Fighters: The Ultimate Guide to In-Flight Tactics, Technology, Weapons, and Equipment

Rating:
Summary: A very good book for the starters in the jetfighter world.
Review: A very good book for the ones who want to know more than the basic specification of a fighter.This book will teach you to look at the spec of an aircraft and know what it can and what he cannot do.After reading the first chapters, you'll be able to compare fighter between them.

I again insist on the first chapters since they are the most enlightening on the fighter world.Every basic and more advanced principle is thoroughfully explained with clear illustrations and schematics.However, you don't need the illustrations to understand what the author tries to say, the text is clear and well written.Truly the best book that talks about the overall modern fighter technology.

The only glitch is that it's a bit dated and that fighter technology like computers evolves at great speed.Main trends take more time to change and that's basically the subject of this book.What is date however is the tech datas and deployment history available in the last chapter dealing on each modern jetfighter.Pictures are not very good also and you won't find a non-partial analysis in Spick's words.It's his opinion and he always tend to compare less favourably other designs to their US counterpart.

Still it's almost unnoticeable and eventhough the book is best beginners guide to modern fighter technology.

Rating:
Summary: I recommand it
Review: Good:
-Good author: Mike Spick has written many good books, he has a nice reputation.
-Cool pictures: Lots of big, colorful pictures. You can tell by the cover that this book = eye-candy.
-Very nice fighter intro book & quick reference: In the beginning the author talks about basic fighter design, like "Propulsion and performance", "Aerodynamcis, structures, and Agility"...etc. These gives you good idea about what the Peformance Data means (you know, those aviation directory listing that you wonder about). A large section is devoted to various fighters currently in service. At the end of the book he talks about future fighter development. Overall a great book if you like fighter aviation but just got started.

Bad:
...
-Minor mistakes: for example, on Page 92, it says "Taiwanese authoritites made the decision in 1992 to develop an indigenous fighter with American technical assistance, and the design was finalized in 1985". You don't need to know the history to know that 1992 is a typo... you cannot finalize something when it doesn't exist.
-Not long enough: Only 140 pages. The book spends 2 to 6 pages on 16 fighters, just don't expect comprehensive info on each one.

Rating:
Summary: I recommand it
Review: Good:
-Good author: Mike Spick has written many good books, he has a nice reputation.
-Cool pictures: Lots of big, colorful pictures. You can tell by the cover that this book = eye-candy.
-Very nice fighter intro book & quick reference: In the beginning the author talks about basic fighter design, like "Propulsion and performance", "Aerodynamcis, structures, and Agility"...etc. These gives you good idea about what the Peformance Data means (you know, those aviation directory listing that you wonder about). A large section is devoted to various fighters currently in service. At the end of the book he talks about future fighter development. Overall a great book if you like fighter aviation but just got started.

Bad:
...
-Minor mistakes: for example, on Page 92, it says "Taiwanese authoritites made the decision in 1992 to develop an indigenous fighter with American technical assistance, and the design was finalized in 1985". You don't need to know the history to know that 1992 is a typo... you cannot finalize something when it doesn't exist.
-Not long enough: Only 140 pages. The book spends 2 to 6 pages on 16 fighters, just don't expect comprehensive info on each one.

Rating:
Summary: Enhanced throughout with dramatic photographs
Review: In Brassey's Modern Fighters: The Ultimate Guide to In-Flight Tactics, Technology, Weapons, and Equipment, military aviation expert Mike Spick provides the reader with a detailed and comprehensive survey of the technology, design, dimensions, and combat qualities of fighter aircraft from around the world and ranging from China's Chengdu F-7MG and Russia's MiG-31 Foxhound, to the French Mirage 2000 and the America F-22 Raptor. Also provided is a wealth of up-to-date information on radar, infra-red detection measures, missile guidance systems, cockpit communications, ballistics, and stealth technology. The superbly written text is enhanced throughout with dramatic photographs and is highly recommended reading for military buffs and aviation enthusiasts.

Rating:
Summary: Its not bad
Review: The book gives you a quick "brief" overview (and I stress brief) in how to read the fighter aircraft specifications; after that you are giving a brief history of "modern" fighter aircraft. There are some errors in the book and the one that really standsout is the image of the F15E in which the caption calls it a F15C as there's a WSO seat back there. F15E are known to fly solo on occassion as the only time when the WSO comes onboard is for A/G training or a real life sortie.

The F-14 or aicraft in the same layout (SU27, Mig29) wing loading isn't correct as even states that the pancake section even lower this data even more but doesn't continue on explaining by how much, which throws the graph in the early chapters out the window.

The top speed data isn't correct as the F-15C has practically the same limit as the F-14.

It's a good book though if you just want to learn something quickly but if you want to learn more, you'll have to look elsewhere. I wasn't pleased with the book as I was hoping to learn more.

Rating:
Summary: Its not bad
Review: The book gives you a quick "brief" overview (and I stress brief) in how to read the fighter aircraft specifications; after that you are giving a brief history of "modern" fighter aircraft. There are some errors in the book and the one that really standsout is the image of the F15E in which the caption calls it a F15C as there's a WSO seat back there. F15E are known to fly solo on occassion as the only time when the WSO comes onboard is for A/G training or a real life sortie.

The F-14 or aicraft in the same layout (SU27, Mig29) wing loading isn't correct as even states that the pancake section even lower this data even more but doesn't continue on explaining by how much, which throws the graph in the early chapters out the window.

The top speed data isn't correct as the F-15C has practically the same limit as the F-14.

It's a good book though if you just want to learn something quickly but if you want to learn more, you'll have to look elsewhere. I wasn't pleased with the book as I was hoping to learn more.

Rating:
Summary: Great text and photographs.
Review: The book was absolutely well worth reading. The
photos are great with lots of aerial shots. Text
is easy to read and comprehend, especially for
those who do not know anything about military
aircraft. Anyone interested in fast-jets should
purchase this book as a starter.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book covers new knowledge and design data
Review: This is a new book by Mike Spick about current and future development of fighters. There are three categories in the book :first part is the knowledge of fighter design, equipment and how to measure the capability of a fighter. The 2nd part covers several fighters around the world, including two from red China and those so called 5th generation fighters. The last part talks about the current and future development, including stealth and UAV. There are also pages of introduction of F-22, JSF, S-37 and others after this section.

This is a very good, or you could say excellent book for current and near future fighter development. Mike Spick explains terms very well and easy to understand even for general readers. For average reader, this is a book to know the latest development and terms of technologies. For more hardcore and experienced reader, this is a good updating reference of latest data.

For summary this is a book you should have.

Rating:
Summary: Good info and photos; sloppy editing
Review: This is a worthwhile book for those interested in modern military aviation. Covered here are 16 modern fighters in service - China's J-7 and J-8, Tornado, Mirage 2000, Su-27/35 family, Mig 29, Mig 31, Harrier/AV-8, Eurofighter, Rafael, F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, Sweden's SAAB-39 Grippen, and Taiwan's IDF, and 4 aircraft in development stage: Sukhoi's S-37 Berkut, JSF's, and F-22. Curiously, among the more fascinating fighters still in development, 3 are not covered here: India's LCA, Japan's F-2, and Russia's Mig 1.44/MFI.

It discusses some newer technologies like stealth, unmanned combat vehicles, laser weapons, and thrust-vectoring (mentioning X-31). Fighter maneuvers and tactics are also covered. Mike Spick does a good job describing each integral part of a modern fighter plane, like the propulsion system, wing aspect ratio, ejection seats, radar, etc. There are nice photos. The charts comparing performances of aircraft are interesting.

The most obvious flaw of this book is very sloppy editing. Typos are abundant. There are some errors, some obviously accidental (e.g., it mentions that Taiwan started IDF development in 1992 -- but it should be 1982 -- in 1992 IDF was well in production and Taiwan had ordered F-16 and Mirage 2000).

Also I wished that Mike Spick could give more subjective views of the aircraft. For example, how is F-16 compared to F-18? Why would an airforce choose one over the other (e.g. Spain, Canada, and Australia all chose F-18 and no F-16). Although he dose give good opinions and comparisons when talking about the Su-27 family.

Overall, still a pretty good book.

Rating:
Summary: Good info and photos; sloppy editing
Review: This is a worthwhile book for those interested in modern military aviation. Covered here are 16 modern fighters in service - China's J-7 and J-8, Tornado, Mirage 2000, Su-27/35 family, Mig 29, Mig 31, Harrier/AV-8, Eurofighter, Rafael, F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, Sweden's SAAB-39 Grippen, and Taiwan's IDF, and 4 aircraft in development stage: Sukhoi's S-37 Berkut, JSF's, and F-22. Curiously, among the more fascinating fighters still in development, 3 are not covered here: India's LCA, Japan's F-2, and Russia's Mig 1.44/MFI.

It discusses some newer technologies like stealth, unmanned combat vehicles, laser weapons, and thrust-vectoring (mentioning X-31). Fighter maneuvers and tactics are also covered. Mike Spick does a good job describing each integral part of a modern fighter plane, like the propulsion system, wing aspect ratio, ejection seats, radar, etc. There are nice photos. The charts comparing performances of aircraft are interesting.

The most obvious flaw of this book is very sloppy editing. Typos are abundant. There are some errors, some obviously accidental (e.g., it mentions that Taiwan started IDF development in 1992 -- but it should be 1982 -- in 1992 IDF was well in production and Taiwan had ordered F-16 and Mirage 2000).

Also I wished that Mike Spick could give more subjective views of the aircraft. For example, how is F-16 compared to F-18? Why would an airforce choose one over the other (e.g. Spain, Canada, and Australia all chose F-18 and no F-16). Although he dose give good opinions and comparisons when talking about the Su-27 family.

Overall, still a pretty good book.